Restaurants Charging More Giving Less.

The article printed yesterday was great for my economic recession rant. Going out to eat is considered a luxury in this turbulent market. Many restaurants are feeling the squeeze on their bottom line and thinking of inventive ways to save money….. Of course at the customer’s expense.

The Washington Post reported yesterday that many restaurants are buying smaller plates to make the reduced servings look just as large or lighter silverware so that even if there are fewer bites per serving, each bite feels heavier than usual on the fork. A la carte portions of high-priced dishes -- steaks, for example -- are getting pared back and surrounded by low-cost starches and vegetables.

Chefs are tinkering with recipes, swapping out expensive ingredients for cheaper ones. Managers are using behavioral science research to rejigger menus -- putting high-profit items in the top right-hand corner, for instance, where diners tend to look first.

Chris Mentzer, a menu re-engineering and recipe development specialist with

US Foodservice. Chris does house calls for restaurants in distress, and he's currently booked three months in advance.

"I've been so busy in the last year," he says, "we hired two extra people."
Mentzer and his colleagues show up with a scale and a laptop and weigh all the ingredients for every item on the menu. Then they start crunching numbers. If the food cost for any offering -- the raw materials, before the price of labor and other overhead is added on -- is more than 32 percent of the price on the menu, there's a problem

Fortunately, Mentzer has a lot of solutions.

"The first thing I tell them is to round up every price that ends with 95 cents to 99 cents. You've got an item $10.95, raise it to $10.99. If it's $7.75, make it $7.79. All the chains have done it -- Applebee's, Chili's, all of them. It's just four cents and your customers won't notice, but that could easily mean $5,000 to $15,000 a year for the restaurant."

Another tactic that's gaining favor: Spell out the price instead of using a number, because it's easier to part with thirty-four dollars than $34. Hypothetically, anyway.

Every business is thinking how they can lure you away from your money. Many are hoping you will fall for the okey-dokey and spend as usual. Now ya’ll know that when the economy turns the restaurant industry will continue this trend of giving less for more. Trust me go to Mickey D’s and eat on the dolla menu and you’ll be just fine.